


Baby Crows

by UncomfortablyYours



Series: DaiSuga [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daycare, Crossing Guard Daichi, Established Relationship, Everyone else is baby, M/M, Minor Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru, Protective Sawamura Daichi, Suga is daycare worker, Tags Are Hard, Teacher Sugawara Koushi, Third years are adults, i promise the fic is better than these tags, i really don't know what i'm doing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:09:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25157521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UncomfortablyYours/pseuds/UncomfortablyYours
Summary: Koushi can't remember when he decided that he wanted to be a daycare worker, but he got a degree in child care, so he's got his head on his shoulders somehow. It's just, very easily unscrewed spinning in circles to watch 7 kids.Daichi knew he wanted to be important, but he wasn't about to be a cop like his mom. That was too much for him. Too many loud noises, and too little time for his neighborhood volleyball team. So, during the day he gets to help a very handsome care giver cross the street with 7 babies.oh yeah, did I mention he really, really loves his job now?
Relationships: Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi, Tsukishima Kei/Yamaguchi Tadashi
Series: DaiSuga [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1828834
Comments: 5
Kudos: 162





	Baby Crows

**Author's Note:**

> Baby Crows, aka where Daichi meets someone that he's got the hots for and is trying too hard to look cool in bright neon yellow.

_Koushi Sugawara - just turned 22, and he's somehow got 7 children all begging for his attention while he struggles to pin up paintings on a too high string._

_Now, wait, go back to this morning. This situation doesn't seem quite right._

A ring of maybe 20 keys hung from the belt loop of a pair of bell bottom jeans, just under the hem of a "Karasuno Valley Crows" daycare shirt that had well loved paint stains in the shape of tiny hands. These articles of clothing were far too new school for any old daycare worker, but they were well loved and often worn by one (1) Sugawara Koushi as he ordered a cup of iced white chocolate mocha from a very tired Starbucks employee sometime just after 5 AM. As if the hour of morning didn't matter, Suga was wide awake and even cheerful. He'd gotten wonderful sleep last night with the help of some new medicine, and he could tackle just about anything! He was in such a good mood even that he tipped the cashier double what he actually paid for the cup of coffee. 

She looked like she could use the good fortune and happiness, with the dark frown lines that cut across her cheeks under soft layers of makeup in a shade too pale for her skin. 

The other perks of being up early, aside from the short wait for his coffee, were that he could cross the streets without having to worry about too many cars. The only ones that might be buzzing around were probably heading to the hospital for their early bird shifts, or to airports to catch those late flights. Koushi only worried about traffic when he had extra hands to hold around lunch time. About 7 pairs, to be exact. That's the normal number of kids he had at his daycare, which he had opened up just a little over 2 years ago. He'd taken 2 years of college to get a degree in childcare after hearing that all the good daycares had moved to the bigger cities, or were shutting down. (Of course, he was the mom friend and figured it out that way, and had no kids of his own).

Silver ruffles of hair moved with the breeze whistling good morning, the smell of neighboring flower beds sweet like honey. Honey bees were hard at work already, and he'd have to get Tsuki to help him with the sugar water today. It was his turn after all, if Koushi remembered the calender right... In his gaze off into space, the teacher barely noticed that he had brushed elbows with someone and knocked something from their hands. It clattered, and the bright red of a handheld stop sign lit up the grey cracked concrete. "Oh! Excuse me, I'm so sorry-" he quickly picked up the item and turned to see whom had dropped it. 

Dark chocolate eyes set just right above gaped pink lips drove holes into Suga's gentle heart, and he could almost swear this was what Medusa's sweet gaze would feel like. "No, it was my fault! Please, forgive me. It's my first day working in this part of town." The man dipped deep into a bow, well combed and trimmed hair moving out of place. Koushi could see the reflective jacket on his back, and a small nametag weighing down the front panel. 

"You must be the new crossing guard. I heard that the mayor had assigned one for us. The kids will be so excited to see you today -" he glanced at his watch and made a quiet noise as the guard stood upright again. "- but I better get a move on to greet them! Here, have a nice day, sir!" Suga returned the sign and didn't have time to catch his name as he jogged off towards the daycare. It was just another block or two, but he knew Tanaka's sister got there very early. She had work, so she always brought him by about 5:45, and it was creeping up 5:30. He wouldn't be too stressed though, since Tanaka was a good set of hands to help him out in the morning. Fishing his keys from his belt loop, Koushi unlocked the plexiglass front doors and pushed them open wide with two wooden blocks holding them open. 

Upon flicking on the lights, the bright colors absorbed into his vision. A kiddy pool of colorful balls, squishy blue and green mats with tumbling triangles, and art tables of short formed plastics were divided up by small walls where cubby spaces had been made for shoes, toys, and backpacks. Each he had given a careful name, written in age order from oldest near the front door, to youngest at the opposite end. A large print calendar was just to the left of the front doors, and it said what everyone's jobs were. He was right too, Tsuki and Tadashi would be helping with the sugar water and flowers today. Hinata would pick the story for story time, Ennoshita would pass out paint, Tanaka would be line leader when they went to the park... He swapped the cards out to put today's date up, and wrote out the word of the day on the chalkboard just as Tanaka's sister honked from outside. 

"Suga-senseiiiii!" A shaved little ball of red and orange barreled into his legs without warning upon stepping outside, and it nearly brought Suga to the ground. "The weekend was so looonnnggg, I have to tell you all the cool things I did with Big Sister!" Excited as ever, Tanaka was. His big sister (who everyone just called Sis) was laughing from deep in her chest, eyes squinted shut. "Have a good day at work, Sissy." He was always ready to spend the day with Sugawara, no matter who else was there. They always had fun things for the day. 

"Yes, have a good day, Sis. Let's go put your backpack in your cubby and you can look at the calendar with me." Suga had a hand on Tanaka's head, guiding the running ball inside. Outdoor shoes were taken off and put up, insides shoes from his bag produced and put on the carpet square that color matched his cubby. Enthusiasm ran in the family with this one, even with little tasks. That made Tanaka probably one of his best students. He took great care in his tasks because he wanted to be the coolest. 

"YES!" Speaking of enthusiasm, excitement pooled over as he saw that he was line leader, and he was dancing around like a little kid does - nearly falling over but going hard at it anyway. Suga was chuckling to himself and peeled off his own outdoor shoes to slide on his inside ones, coming up to his desk to fish out his apron. It was decorate by lively little crows and their mamma, along with his logo and name tag. He also brought out the special line leader hat and placed it on the hook above Tanaka's cubby space. "I'm gonna be the best line leader today, right Suga-sensei?" Bright, charming eyes beamed at the teacher, who would give an affirmative nod and happy noise. 

"Would the great line leader like to help lead me and get out the toys for today? Remember, it's Thursday. Which toys do we get out?" They had themes for every day since they had so many kinds of toys. 

"Thursdays are dinosaurs and action figures, right? Yeah!" The 3 and 1/2 year old almost second guessed himself, but knew better as he marched towards the toy closet with Suga pulling out the right key to unlock it. Click clack, and it was pushed open by tiny hands. The tall adult flicked on the light so they could see, and the bins of toys were picked up/dragged to the alphabet rug between the ball bit and art tables. "Is it okay if I play a while and wait for Noya to get here?" 

"Of course, Tanaka. Noya will be glad you're waiting for him." Even though it wasn't really waiting, he was happy to have one distracted. As the child pulled out toys, Suga went back to his desk and used the computer to start printing out today's art activity. It was a lot of paper, so he refilled the printer before heading back to the front doors. Oikawa and Iwaizumi always dropped Tobio off before their college classes started, since they enjoyed volleyball practice very early, and they usually brought their neighbor's son Shoyo with them. As inseparable as the two can get, they fight like puppies trying to get fed first. It usually ends up with someone needing a very long nap, or time-out chair minutes. 

And just like clockwork, Oikawa greeted Koushi with a tired hug. "Tobio spend the morning crying because he misplaced his favorite shoes, so if he seems a bit upset that's why. And Mrs. Hinata said Shoyo got a bad night's sleep, so he's still sleepy." Turning so Suga could see the two, Tobio was holding Iwa's hand and Shoyo was heavily leaving on Tobio with a thumb in his mouth. The poor baby did look tired, and Suga was hurt in the heart at the cuteness. 

"I'll see if he left his shoes here last week, just in case." Shoyo was scooped up into arms before he could fall over, making sleepy noises as he curled up into Sugawara's neck. The other hand he had free went to taking hold of Tobio's hand. As stubborn as the boy was, everyone was impressed he didn't try and stay home to hunt for the shoes. Especially his dads. "Tell me how practice goes, Iwaizumi. And give everyone my hellos." Another daily wish. He knew the team was going far, since Oikawa had recently been in the running for Japan's volleyball representative.

"Have a good day, Tobio~." The two wished their son goodbye as Suga lead him into the daycare, assisting in removing outdoor shoes and fitting into indoor ones. Since Hinata was so heavily sleeping still, Suga decided to put him on one of the naptime pillows near his desk so he wouldn't get hurt if the other two boys decided to start playing. Injuries should only happen after everyone has had proper time to wake up. Not even a second after the youngest was set down, Tobio was tugging gently on the bell bottoms Suga had belted around his waist. 

Kneeling down to Tobio's height, he didn't have to ask. He knew what was supposed to happen now. It happened every morning. "Today it looks like you get to pick the snack for snack time. Do you want milk and cookies, like last week?" A nod was all the answer he ever needed, because there was a twinkle in dark blue eyes. "I can start reading your mind, Tobio." He giggles and tickles the little boy to try and get a good smile out of him. It does happen, and Tobio is pink with embarrassment. It was so cute, it was breaking Suga's heart. "Watch out, I'll be able to start helping you without you having to ask anymore." A small joke as he hugged the child and plucked him up. "Why don't we see if your favorite shoes are here from last week? Maybe the shoe fairy knew you'd want them for today and brought them here." 

Suga had a single person that came in to clean at night, just to help out with things he forgets, so he went to what he called the "Magic Box" where things go if anyone loses them. And without fail, when Tobio takes the lid off his favorite red and white shoes are sitting inside. His bottom lip wobbled and he hurried to pick up the shoes from the box. "Thank you, Shoe Fairy." He mumbled, looking around to try and see if the fairy heard him. 

"She's always happy to return your things to you, Tobio. Let's leave her an extra cookie on the window today as a thank you. Does that sound good?" Another nod, and the small boy hurried over to his cubby to put his shoes in his bag. So far, so good. The morning wasn't too hectic, it would turn up a few notches the moment Nishinoya arrived though. He and Tanaka together were a forced to be reckoned with. 

With that in mind, Suga would welcome everyone else as they arrived - Asahi, the son of a long time best friend named Kiyoko (who Tanaka and Noya thought was really pretty), Kei Tsukishima who was brought by his brother, Tadashi who was brought along with Ennoshita by his mother. Tadashi didn't have a reliable ride some days, so Suga was always happy to walk down the street and pick him up if need be. Today, Noya was the last to arrive with his frazzled mother - who claimed Yuu had made them late by spilling his food on her good shoes. Suga had taken the least liking to her, so he wasn't going to listen to her rattle on forever. Noya probably hadn't meant to after all, he wasn't the best with his motor skills just yet. He was just turning 3 and 2 months (as he would so proudly say) so he tended to throw things around still. Just like a certain-

"Ryuu!!" The two boys hug-tackled one another in a fit of whoops of excitement, hopping up and down in stride with one another. It was like 3 days of a weekend had become 3 years in no time; truly it was enough to make Suga giggle audibly. The tiny children didn't seem to care about their sensei right now though, too busy with a simple secret handshake they had attempted to create last week. It was... coming along to put it nicely. They were definitely struggling to remember the order of the moves. 

"Alright everyone!" Suga-sensei clapped his hands together, palms connecting twice to gain the attention of his pupils from various places in the play areas. The pause of chatter was very nice, and he always appreciated the first quiet. "Gather on the alphabet rug, we have to go over attendance and talk about the day." He motioned towards the rug and everyone clammered to try and sit on the letter that matched their name first. Tadashi and Tobio shared a letter, since they were the only ones to have a 'T' in their first name and the two had a mutual agreement that Tobio got to sit on the side that was closer to Shoyou. "As you all may remember, we have a new safety friend on our walk to the park. Can anyone tell me the name of the person's job?" They had gone over this on friday so everyone could tell their parents. 

As always, everyone threw their hands in the air and Koushi had to see if he could tell who rose their hands first. Chiraka, this time. 

"They're called a crossing guard!" 

A small smile rose to posy lips. "Yes, very good Chiraka." Suga picked up a piece of chalk and used a small easel chalkboard to write out the words 'crossing guard' in big font. "A crossing guard keeps us safe walking across the streets where there are a lot of cars. The mayor asked him to do this, since we don't want anyone to get hurt. Getting hurt doesn't feel good." He was met with nods and noises of agreement, and he crossed his legs as he sat on the star tile that adorned the carpet to show the ending and beginning of the alphabet. "When we got to the park today, we'll have to be sure to thank him and bring him a gift for his first day on the job. Does anyone have any ideas of what we could do?" 

This time, he went around the circle of hands - Asahi, Chiraka, Kei, Ryuu, Shoyou, Tobio, Tadashi, Yuu. That's the order, but not everyone had ideas to share that were different. Which, sometimes, wasn't a bad thing. The majority ruled to making a big card with all of their handprints on it, and making a 'giant' cupcake. Or, easier, several small cupcakes so he could share with his family. "We can put this, on the front. And all of your hands will go on the inside." He wrote out 'thank you for keeping us safe on walks' on the chalkboard for everyone to see. "Unless someone wants to add anything?" 

"Can we put glitter on our hand prints?" Hinata had spoke without waiting for his turn to be called, simply because the prospect of getting to dump glitter everywhere was just so adrenaline inducing for a 2 and a half year old. "Cause, cause then they'll shine like his big red thingy." - talking about the stop sign with its flashing lights. 

"They're your hand prints, you can do whatever you would like, Shoyo." A whoop and excited bounce left the child as he vibrated in his seat, ready for early art time already. Patience was just something that never came well to him, in case one couldn't tell. "Just ask for help with the glitter, using too much could get everywhere and that's a big mess." Suga had taken great time and care to teach Hinata how to clean up after himself with the messes he made, and how to ask for help when he didn't know how to fix something. It had taken the first whole month after 'The Banana Incident' to drill it into the kid's skull, but it had been worth it. Look how much he's grown!

"Yes, Suga-sensei!" 

"Now, attendance time - Asahi, Chiraka,..." he had miraculously obtained a clipboard from somewhere and was filling in each child's name as they crowed out a 'here!' or 'present' in the case of the polite ones. "And Yuu. It looks like everyone is here. It's time for our day to begin. Kei, Tadashi, it's your turn to help put out the sugar water for the bumblebees. We don't have very many flowers in our garden yet, so we should keep it up so we can earn our honey comb snack when our nice beekeeper Tadake-sensei comes to visit in the fall." He clapped his hands again and everyone else scattered to go play again until it was time for them to help out. Kei and Tadashi were patiently waiting side by side for Suga to get up from the floor. Some days were much harder than others after all. Clambering up, he gave a stifled groan and a tired smile. 

"My little honey helpers, do you remember where the water bowl is?" He used memory oriented activities with Tadashi the most since this might be the only place to help him comprehend things this way. And of course, they both remembered where it was. It was too tall for them, but they loved to watch the bees swarm about and drink til their bee-bellies were full. "Lead me to it then, yes?" Suga extended his hands down and one child took one to cart the teacher off to the water bowl. The window was near the back of the classroom, facing a small bakery that held a monthly sale the kids took part in (aka holding signs outside the shop to encourage customers inside). It was always a fun affair, and they got to dress up in little costumes for the parts they got to play. Once, even, Asahi was asked to help the bakers decorate special cookies. It was the talk of the daycare for the next week. 

Suga plucked the sugar water bowl from the window sill and placed it carefully in Kei's hands since it was a delicate ceramic. "Careful, Kei. It's the bee's favorite bowl." A silent nod was the most Sugawara ever got from Tsukishima, and it was all he could ask for. The child was never very chatty unless Tadashi hyped him up somehow. They were two parts of a well loved and under-oiled machine, to put it nicely. 

From here, he mostly supervised. Kei and Tadashi were the best as measuring the water and sugar, mixing it good until most of the sweet had washed clear. Together they managed well to pour the water in without spilling any, and it was heartwarming to see the bright grin shared quietly between the two. They were meant to be friends for a long, long time. "Very good, boys. You're doing great." 4 small hands carried the bowl back to Suga and he was careful to take it from them in placing it on the shelf. He'd get a sticker for every time he spilled something so the students weren't the only ones being punished all the time. But he didn't spill anything, and he picked up Kei on his left hip and Tadashi on the right to let them watch as some insects started to come around. 

Butterflies of soft orange, and smaller bees buzzed around the dish. "They brought friends today. It's so nice to share." Sharing still fell short among the Karasuno flock, but it would reach a point of naturality. With due time. Lots of due time. "Now that you've done your jobs, go add your silver stars on your name cards. I'll have Ennoshita come help me set up our art time." Once back on their feet on the ground, Tsuki and Yamaguchi darted for the calander and Suga would wave Chiraka over to the art closet. It's where he stored all the art supplies and the things he used to decorate the classroom. Paint was stored in little honey jars he had made in a 4 week instructional pottery class, each glazed the color of the paint kept inside. 

"Suga-sensei, do you think you could help me make my hands into a little bird? I wanna put feathers on it, since we're Karasuno's crows like you always say." Ennoshita never tended to stand out as much as the others, but he had a quiet fight in him that he could never deny. One day he'd be just as rough and rowdy as Tanaka and Nishinoya. 

"Of course I'll help you do that. What color feathers would you like then?" Suga already knew the answer, but he wanted to make sure he would make a crow. It was cute, honestly. He knew how to paint and press his hands to make the shape too, and he'd help add the feathers with a little bit of hot glue. So he grabbed the hot glue gun and a pouch of black feathers, helping get the jars of paint off the shelves. The 7 colors (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, black) were laid on one of the short plastic tables, along with the feathers and bunches of tubes of glitter. Suga moved the other two tables up to it and arranged the chairs around it since this would be a group project. In addition, he had printed coloring pages for when someone was waiting their turn, and a tub of assorted markers off to the side. Better prepared than not. 

Koushi gave a quiet little whistle and caught everyone's attention as he pulled out a large piece of cardstock, folding it in half with more than enough room on all sides to have 9 sets of hands on it. Yes, the teacher was going to put his hands there too, since he'd show them how to do it. "Everyone, find a seat around the table. No pushing or shoving though, use your words." Hinata was in a chair before he could even finish his sentence, and Tobio was beside him in a flash. Asahi was on the other side of Shoyo, and Yuu was next. Ryuu followed suit, Chiraka, Tsuki, and Tadashi in that order filed to the last spots. Guess they've finally got a mutual understanding going...

"I've got enough paint and extras for everyone, but don't start until I've shown you how you're going to do this." He took up a spot between Asahi and Shoyo so they could all see, kneeling down with spongey paintbrushes produced from the front of his apron. Each paint pot got one, and Suga would use them all (except black) to paint a rainbow across his hands. "I'll paint your hands after you decide which colors you want so the paint doesn't dry before it gets to the paper. If you want to make a special shape," he was currently pressing his hands down so his pointers and thumbs formed a heart with the other fingers fanned out, "let me know and we'll see if we can figure it out together." Hands peeled back up, almost all parts of his hands were printed to the page and he used a permanent marker to trace the edges to look like wings and make the heart look better. 

He could almost hear the silent excitement buzzing around the children as his hand prints looked so cool, and immediately was tugged on by Hinata as soon as he said they could think of what they wanted. "Yes, Shoyo?"

"I wanna use orange paint, and, and black glitter! I just want my normal hands, so he'll know what they look like when we're in line." They did always hold hands in line on the way to the park. 

"That sounds perfect, Shoyo. Let's start with the paint then." Suga reached for the orange brush and swirled it in the pot before rubbing the excess off. He'd be thorough in covering the tiny hands, helping get them press down on the front - that's where he wanted them, so he could always see them when the card was shut. After a few moments of holding, he peeled back orange palm to see two near perfect prints. "They look great, go wash your hands in the sink and I'll grab the glue for you to put the glitter on with." Tobio was sitting patiently with the blue paint in his hands like he was guarding it, since he was ready for Suga to help him next. Asahi, Ryu, and Yuu were still plotting what they would do together, since they always worked together on art together. 

While Shoyo ran off to wash his hands, Suga brought the glue over and quietly helped Tobio paint his hands blue - with small bits of black on each finger tip, so it would look cool. Down they were pressed beside Suga's hands, fingers not spread so wings could be drawn on, like when they made butterfly hands. That had been Tobio's favorite painting, and that was how he always wanted to do things. Hinata was back just as blue hands were picked up, kneeling in the red plastic chair to lean on the table and watch. 

"Wooaaahh, Tobio! So cool!" A cheek splitting grin was plastered all over his face, more blinding than the sun in the light. "Do you wanna help me put glitter on mine?" Suga left them to do that, since Tobio was more than capable of keeping Shoyo in check with sparkly things. 

The rest of the morning went by rather quick from there, the card pinned up carefully to dry before they would have to head to the park. Lunch was being held right now and Suga was minding them as he had a chance to sit at his desk and think. He was musing the man he had run into earlier with tiny sips of green tea, eyes wandering to the front windows of the daycare. The aimless people walking by began to blur as he drifted to a daydream, dark hazelnut eyes hungry as they pierced through him. Enough to make him shutter and come back to his senses. He shouldn't be having such thoughts about someone he didn't know. That... that made him a pervert. 

The timer on his desk went off and he placed it back in the drawer as all eyes came his way. "Everyone pack up your bento boxes, I'll come around with the trash can. Then we'll head to the park and have some fun!" He plucked a trash can up from near his feet and moved between the tables, still nursing his cup of tea. He'd put it back in his thermos to take to the park with them. He waited patiently as scraps were tossed into the bucket, bits of rice fished from clothes to throw in as well. Rice was very messy most of the time. When he reached Noya and Ryuu, he could see the two had barbaque sauce all over their faces. Yep, this was normal. 

"Throw your trash away, I'll grab a towel." He snickered quietly as the boys gave sheepish grins, cleaning up their mess as Suga wet down a paper towel for each of them. Tea set on the sink, he went and knelt down to scrub away the traces of red sauce. It smelled good, but it wasn't meant to be makeup on them. One, then the other, and they were all clean. "Ryuu, since you're line leader today, can you start getting everyone's outside shoes on, and I'll come help tie shoes." 

"Yes, Suga-sensei!" Ryuu grabbed Asahi and Yuu by the wrists and pulled them towards their cubby holes, yelling for Shoyo and Tobio to 'hurry their butts up!' and get over there. Neither required much persuasion and listened to the older kid for the most part. Suga took the moment to pour his tea in the thermos and pack the first aid kit in his side bag, throwing it over his one shoulder before grabbing the card from the place it was hung. Everyone had put their names next to their hand prints and Suga couldn't hide a swell of pride. The Karasuno team work was really paying off. 

He grabbed the line leading rope and tied it around his waist after taking off his apron, making it secure before joining the children. He only had to help Noya get his shoes on the right feet and tie Tadashi, Shoyo, and Tobios' shoe laces. Asahi was starting to learn how to do that, so he had started helping Ryuu and Yuu learn. "We get better and better everyday, you lot. I'm very proud of you." Beaming faces stared up happily at him as he put everyone in line order. 

Ryuu - Yuu - Asahi - Kei - Tadashi - Chiraka - Shoyo - Tobio. He never liked putting Shoyo at the end since he was the littlest, so he had Tobio to help him keep up. "I've got our gift for the crossing guard, are you all ready?" Suga was met with a collection of affirmative yells and he opened the front door for everyone to file out behind him. He locked up to keep their things safe and started their march down the block. 

The sun had come out by now and was dusted lightly with clouds so it wasn't too bright to their eyes, but it washed the world in happiness and warmth anyway. It was nearing the middle of spring, so it was perfect weather to go to the park and get to play with other kids who didn't go to daycare with them. Most had nannies so Suga would get a chance to learn new things from them too. There was always something new to discover with a park of children so close. One block and over a small side street to the next, the crossing guard was just a few dozen paces away helping an older lady cross the street. She was headed towards Suga and his group, and he'd recognize her as one of his old coach's mothers. 

"Ah, good morning Mrs. Ukai!" He'd wave as they drew closer, 8 children's steps resonating with him. "It's good to see you today." For a moment, their mission of giving a gift fell to the side as the kids greeted the old woman kindly. She often came to tell them old stories about witches and how they fought for the good of the world. It was always a good day when she was around. 

"Good morning, Sugawara. I was just going to make my way down to tell you all another story." That couldn't have gotten them anymore excited than they already were. "You all have a nice little bench out there, so I'll give your birds some bread while I wait for you to get done at the park." Squeals and whispers of talk spread in the little group and they all yelled their thanks to Mrs. Ukai. 

"That sounds like such a good idea. Since it was Hinata's turn to pick a story before nap time, I'm sure he wouldn't mind listening to you tell a much better one than the books we have." As if to confirm, the ball of orange energy nodded ethusiastically, bouncing on the balls of his feet while holding the loop of the line rope. His little hands couldn't get much tighter around it. "They'll be well and tired out when we get back from the park, so hopefully no one causes any trouble." He said this a little quieter, just for the nice lady to hear. It made her chuckle, and she'd nod as she waved and shuffled off from where they had just came. 

Now, the moment of truth. He motioned from them to keep walking towards the crossing guard, who had a small folding chair perched at the corner where he sat. When he saw the pack coming up, he would stand. Small wisps of dark hair peeked out from under a baseball cap he wore, those dark chocolate eyes amused and delighted to see the silver haired fox again. It was a sly exchange between the eyes that had a flush coming to Sugawara's cheeks without him sure why just yet. "Good morning, we're the little flock from Karasuno Valley Daycare. We wanted to give you this, so you could have a good first day on the job." He extended the card to the man - Daichi Sawamura since Suga had a much better view of his name tag now. Daichi... such a handsome name-

"My, my, what a wonderful surprise." A low rumble of a chuckle fell from peachy lips, and a smile caused wrinkles under his eyes to form. So- so cute! "I didn't expect to get to see such cute faces everyday." Looks went over the children before stopping on Suga. He was obviously included in those cute faces. "My name is Daichi Sawamura, you all can call me Daichi." Daichi knelt down to child level and they all gathered around, hands still held tight to the rope. "Can you tell me who's hands are whose, so I know which one of you made each piece of art." The man was so kind to the kids, but Suga saw no wedding ring on his finger. He must just be kind by nature, which just made him all the more handsome. God, Suga's heart was trying to jump from his chest. He could still feel heat in his face as each one of them pointed out their hand art. He'd never been prouder to have such good kids on his hands. 

"Aren't you going to claim your hand prints, Suga-sensei?" Tadashi spoke up from the pack as Suga was thinking in lala land, snapping out of it to see wide eyes looking up at him. "Yours are really pretty." 

"Oh, yes, right." He apologized for not paying attention and took some steps closer to kneel down with the rest of them. "These, are mine. Koushi Sugawara. It's a pleasure to meet you, Daichi-san." When the offer to shake hands was given, Suga couldn't turn it down. The moment they touched, there were sparks of electricity coursing up his arm. Little hairs stood up as he felt the great heft of his hand, hard callouses near the palms. Daichi worked with his hands in his spare time, outside by the smell of sweet grass that met his nose. 

"The pleasure is mine, Koushi-san." The adults stood up and parted after a moment, Daichi tucking the card under his arm. "And I'll be glad to see all of you everyday! I'll be sure to hang this on my fridge when I get home." The fridge was a place of honor, and it showed on every face. Suga only had a few piece of art on the daycare fridge, one from each student. "Now, shall I help you get to the park?" He picked up his stop sign and motioned from them to come closer to the edge of the sidewalk. When it was safest Daichi walked out first and held up his sign, waving them on. Suga went first and they followed like ducklings behind their mama. Once everyone was to the other side, bows were exchanged. 

"Oh, Suga-san. You almost forgot this." Daichi stopped the teacher to put a piece of paper in his hands, giving a gentle upturn of the lip before heading back to his post. 

Suga would wait til he was at the park to look at the paper, the kids running around and playing on the equipment. He was watching them though, along with the other nannies with their wards. On the paper was a phone number, and a tiny heart by Daichi's name. It spiked his blood pressure and Koushi couldn't think straight. Somehow, Daichi knew they would be meeting again and was prepared. So, from his bag he got out a piece of paper and wrote down his own number in return, tucking it into his pocket as Tadashi and Kei came running up. "Can you push us on the swings, Suga-sensei? Please?" Bouncy feet from Tadashi meant he was extra excited. 

"Of course, Tadashi." He got up from the bench and headed with the two kids over to the swings, helping them up side by side. He never pushed them as high as the other kids went, but it was plenty high for their age. And they were both more than happy to swing just as so. See the two grinning at each other helped calm his head, but he could feel like he had eyes on him. Maybe it was really obvious he had been flustered by something. Regardless, as he looked to the side, he saw a collection of nannies he has never seen before. They looked uptight, but he gave them a kind wave anyway. One turned up her nose and seemed to scoff, but he couldn't figure why. He was a good guy, he didn't even look like he could hurt a fly. 

After a bit of helping with the swings Suga was making his way back to the bench when he heard a scream - Shoyo! He quickly spotted the orange hair and ran over, two older boys towering over him with Tobio trying to protect Shoyo. "Shoyo, Tobio, are you okay?" He quickly knelt down beside the orange baby, collecting him into his arms as the snotty nanny from before came strutting over. Her heels were clearly too expensive for a park. "Are you hurt, honey?" He checked over Hinata and only could see a little scratch on his cheek and palms from hitting the wood chips. "Can you tell me what happened?"

"Your child was clearly causing issues with Aone and Uski. They've never hurt a fly." She stood beside the boys who were probably five or so, Suga pulling Tobio back away from them since he was still on the defense. "You weren't paying attention either, so it's your fault it happened." The teacher narrowed his eyebrows and nearly snarled, but maintained a calm to his anger. 

"I don't think you were paying attention either, over there talking trash with some of the other nannies. _Clearly_ you're new around here, so I'll tell you a few things. These are my kids, and I have my eyes in 8 places at once. I run a daycare instead of hiding inside of a fancy house with a fancy family name. I listen to my kids instead of trying to make my problems someone else's. So if you'll excuse me, I'll be contacting their parents when I figure out what's wrong. I'm an old friend of their dad and mom." Suga gave a bitter smile before shifting Hinata to his hip and taking Tobio's hand. He left the nanny to stand there with her mouth wide open, cherry red lipstick too much for her face. She looked like a clown. 

"I'm sorry you two had to see me get angry, I just didn't want you to get blamed when you did nothing wrong." Suga set Hinata down on the bench and knelt to the grass, wiping the baby's tears away with a thumb. "You're okay, Shoyo. Just tell me what happened." He removed the first aid kit from his bag and popped it open quietly. 

"Th- the other boys were playing with a ball, a- and," he gave quiet hiccups before continuing, "and I w- wanted to play with them. I ran up to ask and they just pushed me down and said I was a baby... Tobio stepped in to try and help." Shoyo whimpered as Suga wiped his cuts with peroxide on a cotton ball, carefully lining up little bandaids over the cuts. "Are they going to get in trouble?" He was talking about the other boys. 

"Maybe. I will tell their parents what happened so they don't get to do it again to anyone else. Thank you for telling the truth, Shoyo." He brushed wood chips from Hinata's hair and tried to straighten it, helping him down from the bench. He gave him a bottle of water too, to take a drink from. "And thank you for trying to help Tobio. That was very brave of you." The dark haired boy received a few pats on the head and a small smile. "Why don't you go play pirates with Noya, Ryuu, and Asahi? I don't think they'd mind a larger crew." He wanted to keep them with the older boys in case something bad were to happen, or try to happen again. 

Just as Hinata and Tobio walked off, he pulled out his phone and went through his contacts to find Aone and Uski's parents. The boys' parents had been on his high school volleyball team, and they just kinda kept in touch. The 5 year olds were a little old for Karasuko, which was the only reason they weren't in his flock. They went to school when the parents were at work. "Ah hey, I haven't called for a while have I? I just wanted to give you a heads up..." he'd go on to explain what had happened, reassuring that Shoyo was okay and had only a few scratches. He also told how the nanny had behaved towards him, which was quite a surprise. Guess she was a two faced ferret. 

"Next time we get together, I promise it'll be under better circumstances. Have a good rest of your day, ok, bye." Suga hung up and took a second to glance at the time. "Alright kids, five more minutes!" He hollered at the 8 of them on the pirate adventures, getting a bunch of thumbs up. The fact that even Tsuki was in on the whole thing too was fascinating. The blonde hardly ever did this kind of stuff, but it was probably because Tadashi was having such a good time. 

"Yes Suga-sensei!" He got called back to, taking a seat back on the bench. He crossed one leg over the other, packing away the first aid kit and supplies he had used to fix Shoyo's hands. Then he cracked open his tea thermos and took small sips, leaning back against long-since-painted wood that made up the back of the seat. He hummed quietly to himself, wondering if Mrs. Ukai would stick around so long to wait on them. Surely she hadn't just swung by to see them... Maybe she had, she did enjoy the kids so much. Just like Daichi did. Oo, he could scoop that man up and eat him like a piece of candy from the reward jar. He would be one of those prized chocolate bars hidden under all the butterscotch and strawberry hard candies. The thought alone of him being interested at all in Suga made his heart race again. 

While on the subject of such a man, he put Daichi's phone number into his contacts, crossing his legs the opposite way as children cheered from the pirate ship. Tearing away from his other thoughts, Sugawara peered up at the boat to see Tadashi being carried by Kei down the steps of the 'dock'. It looks like they had given themselves crowns of flowers and clover from grasses around the play ground, like they had been crowned kings of the pirates. It was adorable, really. 

"Suga-sensei, you have to make a wedding cake for today's snack! Kei and Yama got married on our voyage across the seas." Tanaka and Yuu had come barreling after them to ask the teacher the request, everyone else huddling around shortly after. "It's a very important thing, to have a wedding cake. That's what my sister told me when she said she was getting married." Koushi didn't know that Saeki had gotten engaged. Wow, what a surprise. "And presents, but we already did that part." He assumed the flower crowns had been the gifts. 

"How about wedding cookies instead. Snack time doesn't allow us enough time to make and eat cake. Plus, wedding cookies are very traditional among pirates since it was much easier to make them over small fires. Cake was much harder to get right without being burnt." He was fairly sure that was true considering English pirates would have learned about Mexican wedding cake cookies during their travels across the seas. And he knew that Tobio was really excited to have milk and cookies, so he was holding up his end of the promise to have such a snack. 

"Wooahh, Suga-sensei is so smart." Shoyo tried to whisper to himself, but it was just loud enough for the teacher to hear. It made him chuckle internally, externally a small smile tucking up his lips. "Ryuu-san, you're our captain. Do you approve of this?" He leaned over to look at the shaved headed boy, wide hazel eyes blinking soft lashes. 

Tanaka seemed to consider the offer before nodding, arms crossed over his chest. "I think it's a good idea. Will you show us how to make these cookies?" 

"If you want to stay awake during nap time, yes you can help make them." Suga said as he tied the line rope back around his waist, fastening it well before having everyone line up again. Hands grabbed the loops with little fists, and he made sure everyone was here once again. "But if you get crabby because you're tired while you're helping, I'll have to give you two minutes in the time-out chair. Is that fair?" He saw the children glance between themselves before everyone nodded, and he nodded in return. "Very well, let's go back to hear Mrs. Ukai's story and get ready for nap time." 

\----------------------------------------------------------

Passing his number to Daichi had been very easy this time, slipping it into his vest pocket as they walked by each other on the sidewalk. He had been so nervous with the action, but excitement bloomed in his chest. He couldn't remember the last time he'd gotten a chance to talk to someone and possibly have a date. It... it was thrilling. No, beyond thrilling. He was so ecstatic that he could hardly compose himself in front of the children. He was lucky that after Mrs. Ukai's story that only Tobio had stayed awake to help. Tanaka had used up all his energy on the walk back. "Are you ready to give me a hand, Tobio?" He stuffed an apron on his body, tying the strings before getting down a little blue apron from another hook. 

"Mhm," he'd nod and accept the apron, pulling it down over his head. "Suga-sensei, you're really smart, right?" Tobio hardly ever asked questions, but Suga shouldn't have been so surprised the boy spoke up when the other children were asleep. 

"There are people who are smarter than me, but I can try and help you answer any questions you have." Koushi pulled a pair of mixing bowls down from a cupboard, placing a well loved cook book onto the shelf that held it open next. He would gather a few other spoon while Tobio climbed up the step stool to be able to reach things on the counter. 

"What is a wedding? And why is it so important, like Tanaka-san said?" 

To be fair, the want of information surprised Kou. He didn't think Tobio would take such interest, but being as his parents were married, it would only make him curious. "A wedding is an official gathering with family and friends that binds the love between two people - like your daddy and papa." He recalled the two nicknames often coming from Tobio's writings. "They had a wedding a year before you were born, and I got to see them share just how happy they were to be with each other. It's not necessarily important to have a wedding when you love someone, but society has made it a normal thing." Suga measured out the flour they would need and helped Tobio measure out the teaspoons of spices and cups of sugar. They tried to be as accurate as possible, and careful. Flour getting everywhere wasn't an option, since the kids headed home about an hour after snack time. 

"Do Tsukishima and Tadashi love each other?" Tobio had just dumped in a fist full of nuts, dusting his hands off on the apron before taking a drink from a juice box Suga had given him for helping bake. 

"Well, I don't know. I know adults understand love better than you guys, but I don't doubt that they care about each other. And that's sometimes the most important part of being in love. It's like those times when your daddy," Oikawa was probably sneezing right now, being talked about, "stops your papa from crying, or helps you put a band-aid on your knee when you get a scrape." It was a hard concept for children to understand, love was. But Suga was dumbing it down well, or so he thought. 

"Daddy tells papa he loves him all the time. Isn't that too much?" Tobio always did raise such good questions, which made the teacher smile. They started rolling the cookie dough into balls with powdered sugar coating the outside. 

"There's no limit to the number of times you can tell someone you love them. As long as you can say it, show it, or feel it, love is infinite. It goes on forever, but some people find new people to love. I don't think that will ever happen to your daddy and papa though. They care so much about each other." A small nod came from Tobio and he seemed to think it over as he placed the cookie balls on the sheet and scraped out the last little bit of cookie dough to wad up together. The silence that fell over them was comfortable, since the two had learned a lot about something neither knew too well. Sometimes kids taught Suga more and more about himself than anyone else could. That's why he loved it here, he realized. These kids were his family.

Suga showed Tobio how to cook the cookies and how to help them cook, setting up a wire cooling rack and letting him watch the timer as they baked. It was nice to have some helping hands. He used an oven mitt to remove the cookies and placed them on the rack, one by one until they were all starting to cool off. "Let's get the plates and straws out and set the table." Suga ushered Tobio back out to the back corner storage, opening up a cabinet to get the paper plates and metal bendy straws they reused during snack time. Each straw was labelled with each name, so no one got someone else's straw. 

"You can pick 3 people to sit with you, Tobio." Suga was putting down the paper plates at the red table, its four matching red chairs fixed from their earlier painting session. "And the other four will go over to the yellow table." Tobio picked Shoyo, Chiraka, and Asahi, leaving Ryuu, Yuu, Kei, and Tadashi to fend for themselves on the other table. He put the straws down in front of each chair without much help, and went to the kitchen to get the milk. Milk was his body fuel. 

Suga helped grab the bulk package of pint cartons from the bottom of the fridge, pulling them out and using a pair of scissors to gently peel away the plastic wrap. "You get to pick two today, since you helped me bake." Immediately a carton of 2% white and whole chocolate milk left the package, tucked into pockets of the small apron. "Now, lets go wake everyone up so we can get started. Which milk do you think Shoyo will want?" Tobio knew Shoyo better than anyone else, so he let him pick the milk and go over to their seats to place the cartons down. Suga would put chocolate out for Ryuu and Yuu, skim for Kei, 1% for Tadashi, and 2% for Asahi and Chiraka before returning the milk to the fridge. 

The teacher would turn on the lights first to rouse the light sleepers, leaning down to place soft hands on their shoulders. "Did you have a good nap?" He'd ask all sweet with a few grumbles of sleep in return, eyes rubbed with tiny fists. Of course, until he got to the 'married' couple. Kei and Tadashi had somehow gotten under the blankets together and one laid on top of the other like puppies. "Kei~ Tadashi~." Suga knelt down and pulled blankets off with care, rubbing his hands over back and belly to stir them up. "Wake up, sleepyheads. It's snack time, and we made your special wedding treats." Long arms hugged tighter around Tadashi and Kei hid his face in dark brown hair, groaning about wanting to sleep more. "I got you some milk too, and everyone else is waiting patiently for you." 

Tadashi would finally wake up and sort of roll from Tsuki's arms, sitting up with sleep heavy on his face. "Go take a seat next to Ryuu, Tadashi. Kei will sit next to you." He rubbed the boy's back and sent him on his way as Kei finally got up as well. He wasn't going to let his new 'husband' escape that easy. "Now, Shoyo~". It would take just as long, if not longer, to get the little bag of bones up from bed, including Suga carrying to his chair to have a seat. He just kept tipping over onto Tobio, until Tobio started to tickle him. That had him awake as Koushi brought out the cookie on a white tray he'd dug out from under a baking sheet. 

"In honor of Kei and Tadashi, here are their wedding cookies." He gave Kei and Tadashi four cookies each before handing out three to everyone else since the batter had made so many. There were still about 6 left for himself, which he planned on sharing with a movie tonight, unless a certain crossing guard was planning to call him. "At a normal wedding, the couple feeds each other a piece of the cake or cookie, so if you would like you can before everyone else eats." Of course, Tadashi immediately holds up a cookie to Kei's lips, to which then has a bite in it. Tadashi was offered a cookie in return, and accepts a bite happily. It had the children clapping for them, and even Suga gave in with tiny claps. 

"Now, I'll come around and help open your milks, you may eat your snack." Suga had to help Yuu since he had a particularly tough carton, peeling back the paper with a finger nail. He had half a thought to maybe get them painted, but he didn't want to seem too girly. Maybe he'd do it anyway, it's just a subtle little thing... 

While he had taken a seat at his desk, his phone buzzed the moment he bit into the soft edges of the plump cookie. He picked it up quietly and unlocked his phone, seeing a text from Daichi. 

_How would you like to come do something_

_after work? I have a neighborhood volleyball_

_club that I'm part of. Maybe I can teach you_

_a thing or two ;)_

Suga pursed his lips to hide a giant smile that was on his lips, fingers rushing over the keyboard to give a timely response. 

_I played volleyball for all of middle school, and high school. I was_

_the official setter for all of our games. I'll toss you a few shots,_

_unless you're scared? ;)_

He was playing so coy - he just couldn't help it. The connection a setter had with any other team mate, especially spikers, was one of trust. If he could set well for Daichi, he knew he could find other ways to trust him. Maybe even enough that he could come teach the kids how to play volleyball with him. That would be so cute... 

"Suga-sensei, what are you looking at?" Tobio had come over to ask for help with his second milk carton, noticing the teacher staring down at his phone. 

Koushi's face was flushed pinked and he locked his phone, taking the milk carton to set on his desk. "Just a note from someone special. I got lost in thought." He easily popped open the carton and pressed the side closed once more so it wouldn't be spilled. "There you go." Returning the carton to Tobio's hands, the child nodded thanks. 

"You look like papa when daddy says nice stuff. Do you love that someone special?" 

Ever the inquisitive child. "I'm not sure yet. I just met them. I have to trust them before I can decide if I love them. Now go on and finish your snacks so you and Shoyo can play in the ball pit." 

_Setter? Wow, such a striking position of power._

_I better watch my back if we get on opposite_

_sides of the net. I'd love if you'd set up spikes_

_for me._

"Yes, Suga-sensei. Sorry for asking so many questions." 

"It's okay, Tobio. I love when you're curious about knowledge. You get to learn new things and share it with everyone else. Knowledge betters the whole world." Suga ruffled Tobio's hair playfully, grinning sideways before releasing the child to run back to his ginger neighbor. Phew, that was close. 

_I'll see if you're worthy of a good set._

_Just text me the address and time, I'll_

_meet you there. That sound alright?_

_Sounds great to me, Suga-r._

Goddamnit he was going to kill him for that pun. But, it was really cute to be called sugar. Suga nibbled the edge of his nail a moment before pulling a bottle of polish from his desk, the orange going on all his nails except the middles. Those earned black with crackled silver, small nail gems stuck close to his cuticles. It made him feel much prettier, plus they had time to dry. Everyone would need to be getting ready by 5:50, since parents arrived between 6 and 6:30. 

Which seemed to swing around all too soon and ignited butterflies in Sugawara's belly as he helped collect ball pit balls, put shoes on the right feet, gather up bags and put coats on, making sure everyone had all their things to get home properly. And he made sure to send Tobio home with his shoes that he had left before. Tadashi was taken home with Kei, the brother having arranged the two to spend the night together since the Yamaguchi's were overnight in another city. 

Suga pulled Akiteru to the side before he had a chance to leave though, wanting to tell him about the day. "I hope Kei didn't pick a fight with anyone." That was usually the reason that he was asked to be spoken with. 

"No, no, nothing like that. He was a perfect angel for once, actually. And he even played at the park with the other kids. They did a pirate wedding, and Kei volunteered when Tadashi said he'd be the bride. So, as far as the kids are concerned, they're married." The drop in Akiteru's jaw was almost laughable - because he wasn't upset or distraught. He was shocked his brother cared about anything aside from sleep and dinosaurs. "We even made pirate cake cookies as wedding treats." Suga snickered when the shock just grew wider and wilder on Aki. 

"I'm... You're a miracle worker, Suga-san. I never expected my brother to take part in anything like this. Thank you, for telling me. I'll have to pass the story along to my mom." Akiteru had to help Kei into the car with Tadashi to give more room to collect kids, Asahi being the next to go. Kiyoko was really the only parent that had a normal job from 7 to 3. She was a part time nurse after all. Asahi all bundled up, she plopped him in his car seat and Suga did a head count. 

Shoyo and Tobio - when Oikawa and Iwaizumi arrived they go together. Chiraka, Ryuu, and Yuu would be going with Saeko to Ryuu's for a game night, so she'd be along in a short fashion. Koushi was already planning what he'd be doing when he got home - shower, digging out his old Karasuno High jersey, and bringing some snacks. He'd get hungry playing, for sure. He's gained a little weight since high school, but who doesn't? It makes him nice and huggy around the edges. 

His phone buzzed again just as Oikawa pulled up, Iwaizumi stepping out to open the passenger side door for the boys. "The shoe fairy returned his favorite shoes to him today." Suga whispered to Oika when he rounded the hood of the car, hands going to his hips as they watched the children climb all sleepy into their car seats. "So tomorrow should be a better morning." 

"You're a life saver, Koushi. Really. What happened to Shoyo's hands though?" He pointed at palms where he had seen a neon band-aid. It stood out like a sore thumb, and Suga had been beaten to the punch of answering. 

"Some boys pushed him at the park, but your boy stood up for him. You should be proud of him, he reminds me of a certain someone." Suga was gesturing a little to Iwaizumi before he managed to get out of the back and shut the door, climbing back up front to sit down. "I'll see you tomorrow morning, so I don't keep you waiting." A hug was shared and Toru climbed into the driver's seat to make room for Saeko speeding on up in her van. Suga took the time to help her buckle all three up before waving her off, exhaling a weight that fell from his shoulders. He'd barely noticed it until now. 

"He's waiting for me." 

\-----------------------------------------------------------

A hot shower, shirt hunt, and car ride later, Koushi stood in front of a fence that held in a sand volleyball pit. It was equally spaced between 6 backyards that the neighbors seemed to have spared from their land to have a safe volleyball spot. Houses kept balls from going into the streets like most other courts in the city, and it looks like the men on this team had hand dug and filled the pit themselves. Because _damn_ were some of them built like bulls. 

But among them he saw Daichi, catching the molasses eyes as they drifted over. He had been talking to someone with an undercut of dark hair, but excused himself to open the gate and properly greet Kou. The Karasuno jersey made him slow and Dai couldn't stop a soft laugh that fell from his lips. The lock on the fence was undone and he had Suga step through. "Number 2, I remember seeing the games you played but not knowing who you were. But I'd ditch it if you don't want sand stuck to it." The pair walked to a bench that had been cemented to the ground, Daichi pulling off his grey sweatshirt to expose soft skin and slender muscles. If Suga weren't as strong as he was, there might have been blood dripping from his nose. 

"I think it's an excuse to see me shirtless on the first date." Koushi scoffed, but pulled off the jersey top anyway to fold on the bench. He wasn't as strong in his core as Daichi but he had strong arms and legs as he started to stretch himself out for a warm up. "That is, if you'd like to call this a date." 

"You took the words right out of my mouth-"

"Hey, hey, hey! Who's this, Sawamura? Fresh meat?" An arm draped around Daichi's shoulders from a man who's dark hair stood up tall, streaks of white and grey making him look like he had a pattern of feathers upon his head. It wasn't intimidating, but he sure was tall too. Yikes. "The name's Bokuto, and that's my man Akaashi. He's my setter too." Bokuto pointed off to a man near the net, dark hair a solid shade like expected. 

"This is Koushi Sugawara. I met him at my new job and he's not 'fresh meat'. He's played volleyball as long as you have." Daichi landed a flick to Bokuto's nose, a strong smirk falling onto his lips. "And he's my setter, so we can use Terushima to our full advantage now." Terushima seemed to perk up from where he stood prior to Daichi walking away. He'd been lost in thought, but now poofed up beside Daichi. 

"Wait, we have a new setter? You? Awesome! We'll pull ahead of this tie finally!" So three of the 6 players on one side would be Suga, Daichi, and Teru. Akaashi and Bokuto were on the other team. "Just watch out now, Boku! Any set I've flubbed will be avenged!" Daichi shoved the two out of the conversation and looped an arm around Suga's waist to pull him away. 

He'd walk a short pace around the fence to be out of ear shot of the nosey boys. "Sorry for those two. They're always like this. But... I'd be happy to call this a date." There was a strong shock where Daichi's skin touched his own, like an electrical current they shared. "I haven't dated since I was in high school, so I hope I don't do too bad at this." He was sheepish compared to how bold he had been in giving Suga his number. Daichi must have hyped himself up a whole lot to do that. 

"You've been perfect so far, so let's not jinx it." Suga giggled as someone hollered for their attention, the group of 12 guys standing all around. At the head of the pack was someone Suga remembered from Nekoma - Kuroo, ever the leading type. He was standing with his hand on Bokuto's waist, a wedding ring glistening on his finger. He must have married Kenma like he had wanted. 

"We finally have 6 on 6, since Daichi has found us another player, so it'll be a better experience. Please, make the man feel welcome. Don't spike in the face on the first day." The hyena laugh had made those words a bit of a sour joke, but Suga found himself laughing anyway. "We're doing our normal teams, so go figure out your positions among each other if you want to try something new." They broke off and Suga got to learn his team a little better. They had Teru, Kita and Daichi as Wing Spikers, and middle blockers for defense. Suga was passed title of setter, Takeru was a libero who wasn't moved in the rotations. They had a backyard rule that each side constantly had a libero that stayed in one position the entire game. Since there were so few of them. Their last member was Suno, who was a middle blocker for the majority. He was older, so Suga didn't recognize him, but he had seen Takeru play on tv during the spring nationals. 

"Are you ready, shrimps?" Kuroo crowed from the other side of the net, set at server first. Suga was on the right, Daichi in middle, Teru next to him on the left, Kita on the back left, Takeru in mid back, and Suno up for serving when they started next. 

"Ready as we'll ever be." Daichi barked a laugh, a vicious twinkle in his eye. 

Holy hell that was hot. 

\----------------

Kita's daughter and Kuroo's oldest were keeping score for them, both about age 5 and able to keep the math up when someone told them who got the point. Suga had managed to get quick hand of how Daichi liked his sets, Teru was too wild with his swings, and Kita had managed spikes better from the backrow with how Kou put them up. So far, they had earned the first set, but Kuroo wasn't about to get his guys to back down. 

"You're pretty good." The rotations had Suga up from now, across from Akaashi. He was cool and collected, and knew Bokuto like the back of his hand. They were engaged with the way Boku had made it sound, but it wasn't his place to assume. "Remind me to keep Bokuto on his toes if we lose the next set too." 

"I will. Maybe we can have tea together sometime." Suga was always polite when he was with new people, and he really would like to get to know this man better as a friend. 

"That sounds good. let's exchange numbers later." 

That was the end of their conversation as the libero received the serve and got it above Suga, the spikers all running up to confuse the enemy. Last second, Kou sent the ball too far over for Daichi, but it was brought down hard along the line by Teru - who let out an excited yell at finally making one of the hits. He gave Suga a double high five too. 

"Wow, never seen him do that before." Daichi had leaned over to whisper in Suga's ear, smirking real soft. "He almost always misses because he's too excited to use his brain. I sometimes wonder how he graduated high school." The two snickered as Suga stepped back to take up a serving position, spinning the ball in his hands a moment. One, two, three steps as he jumped to hit the ball, sending it right off the arm of one of the spikers. Clearly bad at receiving. 

"Nice serve, Sugawara! Nice serve!" Teru and Takeru spoke in strange unison, clapping as the ball was tossed back into Suga's palms. 

"You've got this, another service ace, Koushi." Daichi could probably hear the way his full name made Suga feel fuzzy on the inside. His pulse had quickened for sure, and he had to breathe to toss the ball up. Another jump, and the ball hit off the libero at an odd angle. They were shouting for cover, and the three blockers jumped up to completely shut out a line spike attempt. Daichi had been the one to get the blunt of it, and it was impressive to see the way he worked hard. 

"Match point for our team. You've got it." Every word that poured from Daichi's mouth just made his confidence boost so far. 

They won the set with another shut out spike. Every time he got a spike up high enough for Daichi to shoot past the blockers, he got praised. The words were making him love drunks, and he was able to start shooting the best spikes Daichi liked to hit. A little close to the net, with some back spin to slow it down when it was at its peak. Set after set, he even got Teru to make some spikes from his shots, and they took the whole game with 25-23 and 25-20. 

By the time they had finished, sand was sticking to Suga's sweaty skin and he was feeling a buzzing high. He hadn't played such a good game since his third year of high school. His bones had missed all of this, the jumping and running, flexing and setting. He was invited to stay on the team even if he didn't live too close. A friend of Daichi was a friend of everyone. Of course, Suga was thankful for the chance and he was added to the scheduling chat immediately. They took a chance for everyone to point out whos number was which, so he wouldn't have to try and guess names. He even got a few people to take selfies with him for profile picks in contacts. 

Daichi had waited around for Suga, sitting on the bench with a towel around his neck to soak up the sweat that dripped from his hair; he had the courtesy and extended one to Koushi, which was gladly accepted as he took a seat beside his date. "I really had fun tonight, even if I've got sand in places I haven't had sand before." Sugawara laughed, leaning his head against Daichi's shoulder subconsciously as he took deep drinks from his water he'd brought. 

"I'm glad to hear that. I had fun playing with a setter who adapts so quickly to the spiker. I can see why you were on the official line up. I don't think the guy in your shoes now is as good as you are now." Daichi chugged the better part of a bottle of gatorade, popping his mouth off with a loud 'ahh' sound. Like a soda commercial. "He's trying to fill small shoes too." He joked about how tiny Koushi's foot looked compared to his, setting them side by side and their sweaty thighs touching. 

"I bet he's doing just fine. He was a good kid when I was training him to take my spot." Suga looked up at Daichi and away from his feet, once against captured by darling eyes and cherry slice lips. He could almost imagine the sugar sprinkled over them. "I can't imagine who would have to replace you - so far, I don't think I'd ever want to have to." Oh - oh god did he just say that? When he realized he flushed pink and leaned back, turning cheek to hide his face in his hands. "I'm so sorry, I don't know what came over-" his hands were pulled down from his face, and a strong hand pulled his face around. Suga was met with sweetness, lips pressed against his own as Daichi was kissing him just oh so tender. He couldn't do anything but melt, even when the two heard cat calls and whistles. The only thing that tore them apart was a need for breath. They were both god awful dark shade of pink, eyes darting to look anywhere but at one another. 

"That was-"

"I'm sorry-" 

They tried to speak at the same time but just spoke over one another, grins all shy and half shown by downturned faces. 

"That was really nice, c... can we do it again?" Suga was sheepish with his words, but he doesn't remember the last time he had felt his heart so clearly in his chest. It was exhilarating. 

"Again? Of course." 

The court lights were shut down to give them some privacy, but snickers and laughter of joy for the two couldn't hide in the darkness. 

"Let's get a shower, and I'll make us some late dinner. I won't send you home with an empty stomach."

He was such a gentleman. 

"That sounds perfect."

**Author's Note:**

> I'm so sorry if this sucks, I just really love our team mom and dad DaiSuga so much. They make me so happy to write in all honesty. 
> 
> I also just love Sugamama taking care of the babies so sorry that is most of this story ;-;


End file.
